Ex Parte Graf et al - Page 6

               Appeal  2007-2018                                                                            
               Application  09/810,377                                                                      

                      Coneys also discloses that “the blended mixture of the radiopaque                     
               material defining the layer 14 may include between twenty percent (20%)                      
               and thirty percent (30%) fluorinated ethylenepropylene with the remaining                    
               seventy percent (70%) to eighty percent (80%) being one of the radiopaque                    
               materials” and that “the radiopaque material preferably comprises between                    
               twelve percent (12%) and twenty-five percent (25%) of the total weight of                    
               the material making up the tube” (id. at col. 3, ll. 50-61).  We agree that one              
               of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to replace the                        
               polyether block amide in both the shaft and distal tip section of Parker’s                   
               device with the polyfluorinated ethylenepropylene described in Coneys,                       
               since both were known to be useful materials for catheters.  Cf. KSR Int’l v.                
               Teleflex, Inc., 127 S. Ct. 1727, 1739, 82 USPQ2d 1385, 1395 (2007) (“The                     
               combination of familiar elements according to known methods is likely to be                  
               obvious when it does no more than yield predictable results.”).                              
                      Appellants argue that neither Parker nor Coneys “teaches or suggests                  
               the use of highly-loaded FEP” (Br. 7).  In particular, Appellants argues that,               
               “[a]ccording to Coneys, when highly loaded FEP is used in a medical                          
               device, the highly loaded FEP layer must be surrounded by a covering of                      
               virgin FEP” (id. at 7-8).  “As a result, due to the presence of the non-                     
               radiopaque envelope surrounding the loaded radiopaque layer, the actual                      
               radiopacity of the distal portion of the Coneys tube is limited to a level of                
               between 12 and 25 percent by weight” (id. at 8).                                             
                      We are not persuaded by this argument.  Although Coneys discloses a                   
               catheter tube containing 12-25% by weight radiopaque material, Coneys                        
               does not suggest that more highly loaded FEP cannot be obtained.  In fact,                   


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